Newcastle left to rue misses

In front of a stadium littered with thousand s of empty seats due to exorbitant ticket prices, Newcastle United again found out that the Champions League is a competition in which the price of success and failure is equally high.

It cost Newcastle a lot of sweat last season to get back into Europe but after the 2-0 defeat at Dynamo Kiev last Wednesday this result leaves their chance of qualifying for the second stage well in the red.

A defensive lapse in the fourth minute proved expensive, allowing Sebastien Pardo a free volley, and though Newcastle created many opportunities before and after that, the Feyenoord keeper Edwin Zoetebier, briefly of Sunderland five years ago, made several good saves.

When not doing so Laurent Robert, Craig Bellamy and his replacement Lomana Lua Lua wasted their moment. It made for another night of frustration for Sir Bobby Robson and if Newcastle are to do anything in the group they must win in Turin against Juventus next Tuesday.

In an extraordinary opening couple of minutes Newcastle could have been three up but instead found themselves one down. With Alan Shearer looking sharp from the very first touch of the night, playing Craig Bellamy in for a diagonal drive after about 10 seconds, Newcastle had begun at their usual speed - full throttle.

Thirty seconds later Kieron Dyer broke down the right and almost created a goal for Bellamy, lurking at the far post, and in the third minute Nolberto Solano's intelligent cross to the far post left Laurent Robert staring at an enticing volley. But the Frenchman fluffed his effort and Newcastle were to rue it at once.

Still so early in the game, nothing had seen of Pierre van Hooijdonk, but the 6ft 5in former Celtic and Nottingham Forest striker made his first intervention tell when he flicked on a long clearance from the Feyenoord defence.

Causing panic in the Newcastle defence is hardly the most difficult thing in the world for a forward of any ability and Van Hooijdonk's simple header did just that. First the right-back Andy Griffin skied his connection and when the ball came down, under no pressure, Andy O'Brien put the meekest of headers directly to the unmarked Pardo.

Pardo had work to do from the edge of the Newcastle area but his magnificently struck, dipping left-foot volley past Shay Given did it.

In four minutes there had been enough attacking activity to fill a half, yet on it came and mainly from the Dutchmen. Four minutes later it should have been 2-0 when Thomas Buffel strode away from Nikos Dabizas and placed a clipped shot the wrong side of a Given post, and less than two minutes after that Paul Bosvelt, an experienced, clever midfielder unbelievably missed with a free header from six yards.

From having had the possibility of being three goals up, Newcastle could not have complained about injustice had they suddenly been three behind.

Once again the carefree nature of Robson's selection looked helplessly unbalanced. The back four may not be the strongest in England but even the best defences need protection. With Dyer and Robert permanently rushing forward only Gary Speed and Solano were offering tackling support.

That said Newcastle continued to threaten when they got forward and it required a goalline slide from Brett Emerton to prevent Bellamy grabbing an equaliser, while Shearer had a volley palmed away by Zoetebier four minutes before half-time.

Zoetebier did that again, from Shearer, soon after the re-start. It followed an uncharacteristic mix up between Emerton and Patrick Paauwe and must have given Newcastle some hope.

Feyenoord were on the back foot, but content it seemed with their narrow lead. When Bellamy hit the crossbar in the 76th minute it showed just how slender it was. But it was enough.